📖 Morocco Hykayat | Story Viewer

Author: Moroccan Oral Tradition
Source: Collected by Françoise Légey (1926)
Once upon a time, there was a very wealthy merchant who had three sons, one of whom was a "scald-head". As he lay dying, he called them to his side, gave them his final instructions, and divided his vast wealth among them, though he kept for himself an isolated pavilion located at the far end of a garden. Regarding this pavilion, he told them: "I give it to none of you, and I forbid you from ever opening it".
The two sons who were not scald-heads continued their father's business and saw their fortunes grow every day. But as for the scald-head—who was a heavy gambler, a troublemaker, and a jolly drinker—he quickly squandered his share of the inheritance. The day soon came when he had nothing left but a few mouzoûnas in his pocket.
He turned to his brothers to ask for a loan. However, they knew all too well that once money left their coffers, it would never return, and so they turned a deaf ear.
Running out of resources, the scald-head lay in his father's garden under the sun, a kif pipe at his lips, wondering what he might find on the path of Allah and what destiny was written for him. Suddenly, moved by an inner force, he stood up and ran toward the reserved pavilion that his dying father had forbidden anyone to open.
He examined the lock and immediately went to find a blacksmith to have a key made with his last mouzoûnas. As soon as the key was finished, he opened the door and entered the pavilion. He found it completely empty; only a few objects, which appeared worthless to him, lay scattered in a corner: an old chéchia, a sheepskin, and a kif pipe.
Then, sitting down on the sheepskin, he put on the chéchia and began to lament his unhappy fate. To forget his misfortunes and distress, he took the kif pipe, stuffed it, and began to smoke. But the pipe was enchanted; instead of giving off puffs of smoke, it began to spit out a small gold ingot every time the smoker inhaled the scent of the drug.
Suddenly, the scald-head was at the height of happiness, for he immediately realized that these objects he had first thought were of little value were, on the contrary, a source of infinite riches for him. They possessed splendors that would make his brothers, who were not scald-heads, jealous to the extreme. This was because the chéchia was also enchanted and had the gift of making whoever wore it invisible. As for the sheepskin, it transported whoever sat upon it wherever they desired.
Our kif smoker began to make all sorts of plans, the first of which was to win and marry the Sultan's daughter. He put the enchanted skin and the equally enchanted pipe in a safe place, put on the chéchia, and set off through the streets. He snatched items from the shopkeepers' stalls, who, terrified, watched their most beautiful pieces fly away without seeing who was stealing them, while he laughed out loud to their angry faces.
After amusing himself at everyone's expense, he arrived at the Dâr el-Makhzen. He passed through a group of eunuchs who, not seeing him, let him pass, crossed the courtyards and halls, and suddenly found himself in the middle of the women in the palace of the Sultan's daughter. She, alone in ..a room, lying on rich silks, she was thinking that soon the hour would strike when her father would have to marry her. Suddenly, raising her eyes, she saw the scald-head before her. Then, by an incomparable wonder, she saw him no more, then saw him again; and he, who was amusing himself immensely—for he was still under the influence of the kif smoked in the garden—exclaimed: "O daughter of our King, I am a scald-head and you are a beautiful princess, and I ask for your hand in marriage".
Then, she replied to him: "First, lend me what you put on your head that makes you invisible". And the scald-head himself put the chéchia on her head, and she immediately disappeared from his sight. However, she began to utter cries of terror, to call her women and her eunuch, and made such a racket that all the people of the palace came running. They seized the intruder, bound him, beat him severely with sticks, and threw him, all bruised, into the street.
The scald-head, awakened so brutally from his kif dream, took the path back to his house, swearing to have his revenge. He went, therefore, to sit on his sheepskin in the pavilion, and at the hour when the young girl was accustomed to go up to her terrace, he gave the order to his carpet to transport him there. And, in the blink of an eye, he found himself sitting on his sheepskin beside the ravishing young girl. She was no longer even surprised. She only said to him: "Lend me the thing upon which you are sitting, and I promise you that this time I will marry you". The scald-head, trusting, obeyed her immediately and passed her the enchanted carpet, upon which she sat. But she very quickly began the same morning's antics; the slaves, running up, conducted themselves toward the lovestruck scald-head with no more regard than the first time.
Copiously bruised, he sadly took the path back to the pavilion and said to himself: "I have no recourse left but my pipe of gold ingots". He took the pipe and returned a third time to circle around the King's palace, on the side where the young girl's apartment was located. He walked about like a simple kif smoker, and when he had found the place from where the daughter of the King could perceive him, he lay down in the sun and smoked his pipe which, with every puff, gave him a small gold ingot. The young girl did not take long to notice him, for she often placed herself behind her window to see without being seen and, noticing the bizarre ways he had, she called out to him, saying: "Lend me your pipe". But far from the princess, he felt brave and answered with a refusal. Then she promised him marriage for that very evening, swearing to him that, until that moment, she had only wanted to know if he truly loved her. And, as he was more and more in love, he finally gave in.
The young girl sent to him an old matchmaker with an ill-omened face to lead him to her through a secret passage. Upon handing the pipe to the young girl, he saw her wicked smile and realized that he had once again fallen into a trap. He received even more blows than the two other times, for the princess encouraged the eunuchs to strike hard and was counting the blows.
Finally, when he was more dead than alive, they brought him down all bound up and threw him onto a trash heap. Then, he remembered the events of the day and said to himself: "A scald-head is a scald-head and the King's daughter is not for him". Having lost the chéchia that made one invisible, the traveling carpet, and the pipe of gold ingots, he decided to leave this cursed country.
He set out with difficulty and, a short distance from the city, crossing a garden, he saw magnificent fig trees laden with ripe figs. Now, it was not the season for figs, but he was hungry, having left without provisions, and he picked two black figs and ate them greedily. But at the same time as he swallowed the last bite of the last fig, he felt his head grow larger on each side of the forehead and two enormous horns sprout from him. He felt his head and said to himself: "Here is the height of my misfortune. I am a scald-head and I wear two horns larger than those of mouflons". And like all kif smokers, he quickly consoled himself and began to laugh at the thought of how funny his head looked. As his hunger was not appeased, he picked two white figs and devoured them. Immediately, he felt his forehead become smooth again and without horns; slapping his hands on his thighs, he cried out: "Now, I know that I shall marry the King’s daughter". He picked four black figs, made a platter out of green leaves, placed the black figs on it, took another four white figs which he hid carefully, and set off back toward the city.
He went to sit casually beneath the princess's windows, placing the platter of black figs in plain view before him. After a moment, the young girl noticed him; seeing these beautiful ripe figs out of season, she went to her father and said: "Near the gate, there is a man who possesses figs, and I want them". The King immediately sent a slave to seize the figs, and as soon as he saw them, he shared his daughter's desire and both began to eat them. But immediately, they let out terrible cries as they felt horns growing, lengthening like those of mouflons. The King and his daughter shut themselves in their apartments, refusing to see anyone except their favorite slave, and wept over their unhappy fate until the Grand Vizier arrived. As for the man with the figs, he had disappeared.
When the Grand Vizier saw his master adorned in this way, he was terrified; he sent for the most learned and reputable doctors and asked them to cure the King. But their science was powerless. They spoke only of breaking these horns with axe blows, and desolation reigned in the palace.
Meanwhile, the scald-head, who still had a few gold ingots, went to the bath, dressed as a foreign physician, and returned to the front of the palace to ask for hospitality. The gatekeeper received him very poorly, but when he learned that he was a doctor, he immediately changed his manners. He rushed toward him, surrounded him with attention, and brought him to the King, leaving him alone with him. The King, who was in despair, cried out: "O physician, if you cure me, I promise you half of my kingdom and I will give you my daughter in marriage".
Then the scald-head approached, examined the pair of horns closely, and said to him: "Swear that you will keep your promise." And the King swore by a terrible oath. Then the false physician took out two white figs from his hidden pocket and said simply: "Eat." The King obeyed and, as if by enchantment, the horns disappeared just as they had come. Then the King took the scald-head by the hand and led him to his daughter. The latter asked to remain alone with the young girl, but he said to the King: "If you hear cries, do not be frightened, for it will be more difficult than it was for you; and if your daughter says incoherent words without meaning in the present case, such as chéchia, sheepskin, or kif pipe, do not concern yourself further with it."
So he was locked in with the young girl. Immediately, he showed himself in his appearance as a scald-head and administered a terrible correction to her, saying: "Give me back my chéchia, my sheepskin, my kif pipe." And the other, furious, cried, stamped her feet, tried to scratch him, and replied: "You shall not have your sheepskin, you shall not have your chéchia, nor your kif pipe."
Then the scald-head struck her even more vigorously, saying to her: "As for you, you shall keep your horns." Finally, vanquished and sufficiently beaten, the young girl humbly returned to the scald-head the objects he demanded. He made her swallow the last two white figs; her horns disappeared, and she once again became the beautiful princess worthy of the greatest of Kings. Submissive, however, she went with the scald-head to her father; they were married immediately in a grand ceremony, and the King, keeping his oath, gave the scald-head half of his kingdom. The scald-head was thus the happiest of the merchant's three sons and had in his wife, the King’s daughter, the most beautiful and docile slave, until the day of the Separation.